第一週　羅馬書五至八章中的生命線與死亡線

讀經：羅五10，12，14，17～18，21，六4，9，16，21～23，七5，10，13，24，　八2，6，10～11，38

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【週　一】

壹　羅馬書五至八章可以稱為聖經的核仁，具體而細微的包含聖經的整個主題：

一　五至八章屢次題到這兩個鑰辭—『生命』和『死』；生命（五10，17～18，21，六4，22～23，七10，八2，6，10～11，38）和死（五12，14，17，21，六9，16，21，23，七5，10，13，24，八2，6，10～11，38）從五章至八章形成兩條對比線—生命線與死亡線；這顯示人在三角關係中，介於神與撒但，生命與死之間。

二　生命樹與知識樹（死亡樹）帶進兩條線—生命線和死亡線，貫穿整本聖經，結束於啟示錄；生命開始於生命樹，（創二9，）結束於新耶路撒冷這座生命水同著生命樹、（啟二二1～2、）生命光、（二一23，二二5、）和生命榮耀（二一10～11，23）的城；死開始於知識樹，（創二17，）結束於火湖。（啟二十10，14。）

【週　二】

三　喫生命樹，就是享受基督作我們生命的供應，該是召會生活中首要的事；（創二9，16，啟二7；）召會生活的內容在於享受基督；我們越享受基督，召會生活的內容就越豐富。

四　但我們要享受基督，就必須用起初的愛愛祂；我們若離棄對主起初的愛，就要失去對基督的享受，並且會失去耶穌的見證；結果，燈臺要從我們挪去—4～7節。

五　恢復起初的愛，就是在凡事上以主耶穌為第一；我們若使基督成為我們生活中的一切，意思就是我們已經得勝，不再失去起初的愛—西一18下，約十四21，23，詩九十1，九一1，腓三13～14。

六　主向以弗所召會的說話，可歸納為四個關鍵辭；這四個辭的四個英文字都開始於字母『l』—愛（love）、生命（life）、光（light）、燈臺（lampstand）；我們必須在各方面、在凡事上讓主耶穌居首位，以恢復起初的愛；這樣，我們就會享受祂作生命樹，而這生命立即成為生命的光；（約八12；）然後我們就會在日常生活中照耀，並團體的作為燈臺照耀。（啟二1～7。）

七　惡人的邪惡光景，乃是他們沒有就近主來喫主並享受主；（參賽五五1～2，6～7，五七20～21；）他們作許多事，卻不來接觸主，取用祂，接受祂，嘗祂並享受祂；在神眼中，沒有比這更邪惡的事。（耶二13。）

【週　三】

貳　今天信徒是一個小型的伊甸園，在他的靈裏有神作生命樹，在他的肉體裏有撒但作知識樹，而他的心思在這二者中間；我們若不在靈裏，就在肉體裏；我們沒有第三個地方可去；這就是為何我們必須將心思置於靈—羅八6：

一　人的身體原來是純淨的，然而因著人的墮落，撒但將他自己注射到人裏面，人的身體就成了肉體—創三6，羅七18上：

1　我們的身體是『罪的身體』，（六6，）也是『那屬這死的身體』；（七24；）罪的身體，在犯罪得罪神的事上，是極為活躍有力的；但那屬這死的身體，在行事討神喜悅的事上，卻是軟弱無能的。（18。）

2　只要我們仍然活著，直到我們得贖的日子之前，罪和死的身體總是與我們同在—參八23。

3　肉體是罪、死、和撒但的『聚會所』與複合品；肉體是沒有盼望的，是絕不可能改良的—七17～18，21，參約十七15。

【週　四】

二　為著祂經綸的緣故，神在祂的智慧和主宰安排裏，使用我們罪惡、醜陋的肉體，迫使我們轉向我們的靈，使我們藉著神在我們裏面的增長，為著祂的建造更多得著那靈—西二19，亞四6：

1　按法理說，撒但和我們的肉體已經在十字架上一次永遠的被定罪，（羅八3，約三14，來二14，林後五21，）但神容許肉體留在我們身上，為要幫助我們並迫使我們轉向靈裏的基督，並使我們不再信靠肉體。（腓三3。）

2　沒有罪惡、醜陋的肉體所給的幫助，我們就不會那麼迫切要得著主，或讓祂作到我們裏面—羅七24～25，八2，6，13。

3　我們的目標或許是聖別、屬靈或得勝，但神的目標是要將祂自己作到我們裏面，使我們成為榮耀的；通常我們在困難的情形裏，就向主更敞開，更願意轉向祂並讓祂將自己作到我們裏面—28～29節，弗五27。

4　我們若尋求祂，甚至肉體這罪惡的複合品也會幫助我們得著主；因為我們常常失敗，我們就迫切的轉向靈，這樣，我們就更多得著那靈—參出二三23，29～30，士二21～三4。

5　我們的困難、打擊、失敗和失望，迫使我們明白肉體是毫無盼望的；肉體的用處只是在迫使我們轉向靈裏的基督，將我們逼到靈裏，使我們迫切要進入靈裏，並使我們儆醒留在靈裏—太二六41，弗六17～18。

6　主不在意我們是否得勝，祂只在意一件事—我們將心思置於靈，藉此得著基督作為那靈—腓三8，林後三17～18，羅八6。

【週五、週六】

參　在羅馬五章，我們在亞當裏；在羅馬六章，我們在基督裏；在羅馬七章，我們在肉體裏；在羅馬八章，我們在靈裏；五章裏的亞當在七章的肉體裏纔經歷，六章裏的基督在八章的靈裏纔經歷：

一　我們在基督裏的信徒有事實上並地位上的遷移：藉著基督的死，從亞當裏遷出來，藉著基督的復活，遷到基督裏—六3～8：

1　在亞當裏，我們承受了罪，將我們構成了罪人；（五12上，19上；）我們承受了死，死一面使我們軟弱，叫我們不能行討神喜悅的事，另一面作王轄管我們；（12下，14上，17上；）我們也承受了在律法之下的定罪，以至於死。（16上。）

2　在基督裏，我們得了以下各項為恩賜：義、生命、在恩典下被稱義得生命，在這生命中我們與恩典一同作王，管理萬有—17節下，18節下，21節。

二　我們在基督裏的信徒有實行上並經歷上的遷移：藉著我們與基督同釘十字架，從肉體（實行上並經歷上的亞當）裏遷出來；（六6，加二20；）藉著我們與基督作為生命之靈的律聯結，遷到那靈（實行上並經歷上的基督）裏。（羅八2，16上，林前六17。）

三　基督自己就是神的生命，永遠的生命；（約十四6上，十一25，約壹一2；）祂來了，是要叫我們得生命，並且得的更豐盛；（約十10下；）祂完成釋放生命的死，並進入分賜生命的復活，（十二24，）成為賜生命的靈，（林前十五45下，）作生命之靈的律，（羅八2，）賜生命給我們的靈、心思、和我們必死的身體，使我們得以被生命吞沒，好供應生命給人。（10，6，11，林後五4，約壹五16上，約六63，徒五20。）

肆　我們要留在生命線上，就必須走享受基督作生命樹的路—見以下李弟兄極重要的交通：

走享受基督作生命樹的路—李弟兄極重要的交通

『一九四三年五月我…患了嚴重的肺病。…生命樹的信息…是我在病中二年半所看見的。在那二年半裏，我只看見一件事，就是我們在主的恢復裏，在祂的工作裏，所缺的就是生命。無論難處是在那一面，都是由於缺少生命。為著這點，我非常懊悔，在主面前有許多的認罪，和徹底的悔改，並在祂面前有對付。…「生命樹」的信息在南京救了許多人，也釋放了許多人；這些人都是我們中間的弟兄姊妹。他們因著四年前上海召會的風波，多年癟氣下沉，甚麼都不能作，這樣的信息，叫他們的靈得著了釋放，心也得著開啟。…感謝主，藉著生命樹的信息，也使上海召會得著了醫治。…乃是這個生命樹的信息，立定了一個基礎，使上海召會得著復興。』（歷史與啟示上冊，一五六、一六○至一六一、一六三、一六六至一六七頁。）

『我們若要實際的走上享受神的路，就得厲害的轉一個觀念。…我們若要進入享受神的實際，非得對這件事有厲害的看見不可。…直到將近四十歲時，我纔蒙了主的眷顧，懂得這條享受神的路。因此，我非常懊喪，自己有二十年之久，大多的時間和力量都白白消耗了。那許多的禱告、讀經，以及所讀的屬靈書報，幾乎都沒有甚麼價值。我纔看見，我們從前不光是作工的路錯了，連屬靈追求的路也錯了。

『我自己既走過那條錯路，喫過大虧，就不願意你們再重蹈覆轍；並且盼望你們能走上這條享受神的路。我要鄭重的說，你們不該再走那條錯路，乃要看見已往那種追求有問題。我們必須在觀念上有個徹底的轉變；換句話說，我們需要有一個非常厲害的異象，一個非常厲害的看見。』（生命樹與善惡樹的異象，六○至六一頁。）

Week One

The Line of Life and the Line of Death in Chapters 5 through 8 of Romans

Hymns: E593

Scripture Reading: Rom. 5:10, 12, 14, 17-18, 21; 6:4, 9, 16, 21-23; 7:5, 10, 13, 24; 8:2, 6, 10-11, 38

§ Day 1

I. Chapters 5 through 8 of Romans can be called the kernel of the Bible, showing its entire theme in a concrete and detailed way:

A. These two key words—life and death—are mentioned repeatedly in Romans 5 through 8; life (5:10, 17-18, 21; 6:4, 22-23; 7:10; 8:2, 6, 10- 11, 38) and death (5:12, 14, 17, 21; 6:9, 16, 21, 23; 7:5, 10, 13, 24; 8:2, 6, 10-11, 38) form two contrasting lines through chapters 5—8, the line of life and the line of death, showing that man is in a triangular situation between God and Satan, life and death.

B. The tree of life and the tree of knowledge (the tree of death) issue in two lines—the line of life and the line of death—that run through the entire Bible and end in the book of Revelation; life begins with the tree of life (Gen. 2:9) and ends with the New Jerusalem as the city of water of life with the tree of life (Rev. 22:1-2), the light of life (21:23; 22:5), and the glory of life (21:10-11, 23); death begins with the tree of knowledge (Gen. 2:17) and ends with the lake of fire (Rev. 20:10, 14).

§ Day 2

C. Eating the tree of life, that is, enjoying Christ as our life supply, should be the primary matter in the church life (Gen. 2:9, 16; Rev. 2:7); the content of the church life depends on the enjoyment of Christ; the more we enjoy Him, the richer the content will be.

D. But to enjoy Christ requires us to love Him with the first love; if we leave our first love toward the Lord, we will miss the enjoyment of Christ and lose the testimony of Jesus; consequently, the lampstand will be removed from us—vv. 47.

E. To recover the first love is to consider the Lord Jesus as the first in everything; if we make Christ everything in our life, this means that we have overcome the loss of the first love—Col. 1:18b; John 14:21, 23; Psa. 90:1; 91:1; Phil. 3:13-14.

F. The Lords speaking to the church in Ephesus can be summarized with four crucial words that begin with the letter l—love, life, light, and lampstand; we must give the Lord Jesus the preeminence in every way and in everything to recover the first love; then we will enjoy Him as the tree of life, and this life right away becomes the light of life (John 8:12); then we will be shining in our daily life and corporately as the lampstand (Rev. 2:1-7).

G. The evil condition of the wicked is that they do not come to the Lord to eat and enjoy the Lord (cf. Isa. 55:1-2, 6-7; 57:20-21); they do many things, but they do not come to contact the Lord, to take Him, to receive Him, to taste Him, and to enjoy Him; in the sight of God, nothing is more evil than this (Jer. 2:13).

§ Day 3

II. Today the believer is a miniature garden of Eden—God as the tree of life is in his spirit, Satan as the tree of knowledge is in his flesh, and his mind is in between; we are either in the spirit or in the flesh; there is no third place for us to be; this is why we must set our mind on the spirit—Rom. 8:6:

A. Mans body was originally pure, but through mans fall Satan injected himself into man, and mans body has become the flesh—Gen. 3:6; Rom. 7:18a:

1. Our body is “the body of sin” (6:6) and “the body of this death” (7:24); the body of sin is very active and full of strength in sinning against God, but the body of this death is weak and powerless in acting to please God (v. 18).

2. As long as we are still living, until the day of our redemption, the body of sin and death is always with us—cf. 8:23.

3. The flesh is the “meeting hall” and the compound of sin, death, and Satan; the flesh is a hopeless case and can never be improved—7:17-18, 21; cf. John 17:15.

§ Day 4

B. For the sake of His economy, God in His wisdom and sovereignty uses our sinful, ugly flesh to force us to turn to our spirit so that we may gain more of the Spirit for His building by the growth of God in us—Col. 2:19; Zech. 4:6:

1. Judicially speaking, both Satan and our flesh were condemned once for all on the cross (Rom. 8:3; John 3:14; Heb. 2:14; 2 Cor. 5:21), but God allowed the flesh to remain with us to help us and force us to turn to Christ in our spirit and have no more confidence in the flesh (Phil. 3:3).

2. Without the help rendered by the sinful, ugly flesh, we would not be as desperate to gain the Lord or to have Him wrought into us—Rom. 7:24-25; 8:2, 6, 13.

3. Our goal may be holiness or spirituality or victory, but Gods goal is to work Himself into us to make us glorious; often when we are in a difficult situation, we are more open to the Lord and more willing to turn to Him and allow Him to work Himself into us—vv. 28-29; Eph. 5:27.

4. If we seek Him, even the sinful compound of the flesh will become a help to us in gaining the Lord; because we fail so often, we are desperate to turn to the spirit, and in this way we gain more of the Spirit—cf. Exo. 23:23, 29-30; Judg. 2:21—3:4.

5. Our hardships, defeats, failures, and disappointments force us to realize that there is no hope in the flesh; the flesh is good only to force us to turn to Christ in our spirit, to press us into the spirit, to make us desperate to get into the spirit, and to keep us watchful to stay in the spirit—Matt. 26:41; Eph. 6:17-18.

6. The Lord does not care for whether or not we have a victory; the Lord cares for only one thing—that we gain Christ as the Spirit by setting our mind on the spirit—Phil. 3:8; 2 Cor. 3:17-18; Rom. 8:6.

§ Day 5 & Day 6

III. In Romans 5 we are in Adam, in Romans 6 we are in Christ, in Romans 7 we are in the flesh, and in Romans 8 we are in the spirit; the Adam in chapter 5 is  experienced in the flesh in chapter 7, and the Christ in chapter 6 is experienced in
the spirit in chapter 8:

A. We believers in Christ have a factual and positional transfer out of Adam through Christs death and into Christ through His resurrection—6:3-8:

1. In Adam we inherited sin that constitutes us sinners (5:12a, 19a); we inherited death that, on the one hand, weakens us, disabling us to do things pleasing God, and that, on the other hand, reigns over us (vv. 12b, 14a, 17a); and we inherited condemnation under the law unto death (v. 16a).

2. In Christ we have been gifted with righteousness, life, and justification under grace unto life, in which we reign with grace over all things—vv. 17b, 18b, 21.

B. We believers in Christ have a practical and experiential transfer out of the flesh (the practical and experiential Adam) through our being crucified with Christ (6:6; Gal. 2:20) and into the Spirit (the practical and experiential Christ) through our organic union with Christ as the law of the Spirit of life (Rom. 8:2, 16a; 1 Cor. 6:17).

C. Christ Himself is the life of God, the eternal life (John 14:6a; 11:25; 1 John 1:2); He came that we may have life and may have it abundantly (John 10:10b); He died a life-releasing death and entered into a life-dispensing resurrection (12:24) to become the life-giving Spirit (1 Cor. 15:45b) as the law of the Spirit of life (Rom. 8:2), giving life to our spirit, our mind, and our mortal bodies so that we might be those who are swallowed up by life to minister life to others (vv. 10, 6, 11; 2 Cor. 5:4; 1 John 5:16a; John 6:63; Acts 5:20).

IV. In order for us to stay on the line of life, we must take the way of enjoying Christ as the tree of life; see crucial fellowship from Brother Lee below:
* * * * * *
TAKING THE WAY OF ENJOYING CHRIST AS THE TREE OF LIFE— CRUCIAL FELLOWSHIP FROM BROTHER LEE

“In May of 1943…I had contracted a serious case of tuberculosis…I saw the tree of life
during the two and a half years of my illness. During those two and a half years I saw that in the Lords recovery and in His work we lacked life. Every kind of problem, regardless of what it may be, is the result of a shortage of life. When I saw this, I was extremely remorseful, I confessed much and had a thorough repentance before the Lord, and I also had many dealings before Him…The messages on the tree of life saved many saints and also released many of the brothers and sisters in Nanking. Because of the four years of turmoil in the church in Shanghai, the saints had been disheartened and depressed for years and were unable to do anything. These messages released their spirit and enlightened their heart…I thank the Lord that through the messages on the tree of life, the church in Shanghai was healed…The messages on the tree of life laid a foundation for the revival of the church in Shanghai”—The History and Revelation of the Lords Recovery, vol. 1, pp. 130, 133, 135, 138.

“If we want to take the way of enjoying God, we must have a change of concept…If we want to enter into the reality of the enjoyment of God, we must see a controlling vision…It was not until I was forty years of age that the Lord revealed to me the way of enjoying Him. I was disappointed that for twenty years most of my time and energy had been wasted. Most of my prayers were of no value, and the time that I had spent reading the Bible and other spiritual books was also of no value. This is when I realized that our way of working was wrong and that our way of spiritual pursuit was also wrong.

“Because I suffered a great loss from taking the wrong way, I do not want others to repeat the same mistake. I hope that others can take the way of enjoying God. I implore the saints to no longer take the wrong way. We should consider our former way of pursuit. We must have a drastic change of concept. We need to have a controlling vision”—The Vision of the Tree of Life and the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, p. 51.